Pages

Sunday, October 30, 2016

It hasn't happened very often in my working life but I'm currently working in a close-knit team of very supportive colleagues who also double as Very Lovely People. Two of those Very Lovely People are having babies very soon, and I love to make quilts that people will use, so win-win, right?

My colleague S finished up work last week so I rushed to finish this UFO from a few years ago. I made it as part of a Craftsy class on improv piecing with Jacquie Gering. I pieced the top and then never knew what to do with it so I put it aside. It turned out to be the perfect size for a baby.

I found some wool batting in the stash - cotton is my preferred batting for home-quilting, mainly because it's sticky and quilts don't tend to pucker, but for a Canberra baby playing on the floor, I think wool is a nicer batting.

I am really enjoying using up the bigger bits of my stash as backings at the moment. This one is a very old Kaffe Fassett print. I bought it for $2 a metre back when Home Yardage were still in Canberra, I suspect around 2003. I bought it in another colourway too - I remember asking the cutter if he realised how cheap this fabric was - it normally went for $27 a metre at the quilt stores. He told me he had no idea who Kaffe Fassett was. No wonder they went out of business...

I basted on the kitchen table and quilted it in 90 minutes. Just straight lines in a grid pattern using the heavier-weight Aurifil 28/2 thread, but it will be chucked up on and dragged through the garden and used for rainy day forts, so it needed to be durable.

Because the top had been sitting around for 3 years collecting dust, and the backing had been in my stash for about the last 13 years, I gave it a wash and tumble dry after binding it. It stood up to the abuse really well, and then I steam ironed it on the linen setting so it at least looked nice enough to gift. She loved it. Her husband loved it. Her little toddler loved it. I'm so happy it's going to people who appreciate fine art quilts. I hope her baby boy enjoys it for years and years.

Details:

Pattern: Swirling Stars by Jacquie Gering (Crafty class)

Size: 54" x 40"

Fabric: stash and scraps; and Sketch by Timeless Treasures as the background (I think!)

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

This is a story about Helen's quilt. In mid-2013 I started making a quilt out of fruit and vegetable fabrics - all purchased when I was at the SCQuilters retreat in Townsville in 2012. I loved how quirky the fabrics were, but had no idea what to do with them originally. I ended up piecing a quilt made from half-square triangles with the intention of giving it to my friend Helen for her birthday. She has to avoid dairy and gluten and is also a vegetarian and is super healthy so she was the perfect recipient. Plus she has the BEST sense of humour so would totally get it.

Four of us were driving to Melbourne for her 59th birthday party/house renovation warming party in late August 2013. One of my friends was already making her a quilt, and life happened, and quilt exhibitions, and I ended up not getting the quilt finished in time. No matter, I thought. I've made her two quilts before - I'll give it to her on her 60th.

I haven't been to Melbourne as much as I'd have liked to over the last couple of years and I just never really thought much of that quilt again for some reason. But I'd made plans to have a little holiday in Melbourne by myself around the long weekend recently and was going to see Helen (5 weeks after after her 62nd birthday - bad friend!) so 4 days before I left I decided to finish the quilt and give it to her.

The piecing of the back took me half a day. Normally it would take half an hour. I just couldn't seem to grasp how a tape measure worked. But I finally got my shit together, basted it, quilted it and bound it. I managed to get a lot of gardening, a lunch out, two swims, and an afternoon drinks session with sewing friends in that time. It helps that I didn't quilt it that heavily, I suppose. Also I'm a super-fast binder. I LOVE binding.

I took these photos in my hotel room an hour before I met Helen for dinner in Northcote. She loved her quilt. For once I've made her a quilt for her bed (it is 60 inches, so a bed topper) rather than her wall which makes me happy. I like keeping my friends warm, especially those I've known for more than half my life and who now live so far away.

I quilted it with Aurifil thread 50/2 weight in a green colourway. It blends really well with the quilt. I did a diagonal design half an inch away from the bigger diamonds, and then in the ditch horizontally and vertically. The quilting probably took me about 2 1/2 hours, but it is utilitarian and it definitely won't fall apart.

Details:

Pattern: My own - using HSTs

Size: 60" x 60" (finished block size 5")

Fabric: Various fruit and vegetable fabrics; and a green and white spotted fabric background